feedburner

Subscribe to Our Email Newsletter



feedburner count

Techie Blues has a new Home

Categories:

Techie Blues has shifted to its own custom domain: www.techieblues.com

If you have liked this blog then you will simply love the new blog.



If you like my content, then please do subscribe to my feed.



Always show the tab bar in Safari

Categories:

As in Firefox 3, Safari 3 also supports tabbed browsing. But one of the main disadvantages is that there is no option for "Always Show the Tab Bar" as in Firefox 3.

So here is a hack for all those users who miss that tab bar.

For OS X follow the following steps:

1. Open the Safari plist file (~/Library » Preferences » com.apple.Safari.plist) in the Property List Editor.
2. Click the triangle to open the Root list, then click once on Root to highlight it.
3. Click the Add Child button.
4. Change the name (New item) to AlwaysShowTabBar, set the Class to Boolean, and set Value to Yes.
5. Save changes and quit Property List Editor.

For Windows People like me:

Go to C:\Documents and Settings\$USERNAME$\Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari\Preferences.plist (Replace $USERNAME$ with your username)
and add the code below anywhere in the file.

<key>AlwaysShowTabBar</key>

<true/>

and save the file. Restart the safari browser and voila, you will find the status bar there.

If you like my content, then please do subscribe to my feed.



Make Money with your Twitter Profile

Categories: ,

Till now people used to make money using their blogs by using various monetizing networks but there were no monetizing networks which had supported the microblogging platform.
That is where now TwittAd steps in. TwittAd is a special ad network only for twitter, that allows people to put ads on their Twitter profiles and earn money out of it.
If you have a profile with lots of followers then you can use this website  to monetize it.
What TwittAd actually does is that it provides a common platform for both Twitter users and Advertisers to meet for their product placement, website promotion on the Twitter user's profile.

How to use TwittAd?

First, you will have to sign up an account with them. After signup, you will be given instructions as to how to insert ads in your profile. Payments are done through Paypal and the threshold limit i.e. minimum amount to be earned is $20.
TwittAd

Personally speaking, I feel it is a very innovative idea but will it work is the million dollar question as very few twitterers go to different profiles just to read other tweets. But still worth try. What say?
Do pass on your comments.

If you like my content, then please do subscribe to my feed.



Can you ditch your smartphone? A Challenge

Categories: , ,

Engadget Mobile has come up with a novel idea, rather a challenge.
Nokia 1100The challenge is simple: Ditch your smartphone for a month and try to live with a the basic Nokia 1100.
Hmmm must say it is a very intriguing challenge in this age of Web 2.0 or atleast you would think so, but according to figures of Nokia, there are over 200 million people who are using this set and haven't upgraded to any other smart phone.
I honestly cannot think of a day without my Nokia N70 phone. Though I don't use any of the smart phone applications but I cannot stay without listening to music and taking snaps from my phone. What do you say?
Feel free to let me know your experience if you take up the challenge. Or if you are one of my kind, do tell me what feature from your phone you cannot do without.



Schedule your Tweets, SMS and Emails

Categories: , ,

Ever Wanted to schedule your tweets or even SMS? Then Sendible is the answer you are searching for.

It has a variety of services to offer. Some of them are:

  • You can schedule Emails, SMS's and Social Network Messages
  • It can be used to send SMS messages to anywhere in the world for free
  • It can be used to create reminders and have them sent to you by Email or SMS. So no more Forgetting Birthdays or Anniversaries :). There is an option to import all your facebook contacts as well
  • You can organise events and send invites using Email, SMS or messages through Social Networks
  • You can schedule status updates and tweets on Facebook and Twitter Respectively
  • It keeps you informed of all the upcoming events as well the past ones that might have occurred since your last login via a personalised news feed.and so much more...
Click here to go to Sendible and start scheduling :)



Get 250 GB Account for a lifetime

Categories: ,

FileSavr.com is offering free accounts to people. To get your free account fill out this form to receive to get an account of 250 GB absolutely free. Accounts created before September 15th will have a lifetime membership for free.
Hurry!!! Offer is valid till September 15th 2008.
Click here to create an account

Update: This Offer has closed. However you can check out their various plans here.



Tsunami Times Rebranded as Techie Blues

As you might have noticed from past few days that "Tsunami Times" was going through major rebranding. It is almost an year now since I have started this blog. At the start I did not want to follow any specific genre via my blog. I blogged about the topics I found as interesting. But after one year I have become a tad bit wiser I guess. So I have transformed this blog into a complete techie blog and created another blog for non technical purposes. Do check that as well @ My Personal Space. Hope you find my site more interesting than before. I will put all my efforts to make this blog a better place. Thanks for your co-operation during the past few days.
I would also like to have feedback of this new site. Therefore do comment and let me know your feedback so that I can evolve this blog into a better place. Thanks :)




iPhone 3G coming on BSNL soon

Categories: , ,

The much hyped iPhone 3G is coming on BSNL networks soon. According to BSNL, it plans to launch the phone by Dec 2008 along with the launch of 3G network.
This might be a severe blow to its competitors Vodafone and Airtel, who currently hold the license to distribute iPhone in India since BSNL phones will support 3G network right from its inception unlike themselves.
But the big question is that whether BSNL will also carry the same price tag as its rivals Vodafone and Airtel or will opt for a price cut on the phone?

The only answer to this is to wait and watch.
Hoping that the BSNL's entry will lower the price of  iPhone. :)
What do you say?


If you like my content, then please do subscribe to my feed.




Create Amazing Twitter Badges with TwitStamp

Categories: ,

TwitStamp is the newest addition to the huge list of Twitter Services already present. But the USP of this service is that it lets us make some amazing and sleek twitter badges showing off our current tweet.
Apart from that you can also create a "TwitCard" i.e. A profile badge of your twitter account which can then be used to display on your blogs, forums or even on your social networking profiles etc.
TwitCard
And the main advantage is that Twitstamp does not use widgets. So no hassles of entering any code. Some of the sample badges are as shown below.
Twitstamp
Twitstamp 2
To use the standard badge anywhere, use http://twitstamp.com/YourTwitterName.png.
(via Fabworker)

If you like my content, then please do subscribe to my feed.



Annoyed with the Snap's link previews? Get rid of it

Categories:

Yesterday I was going through a website which had a lot of Snap's Link previews. For the uninitiated, Snap is a service provided by Snap.com. It is a small code that bloggers/web developers use on their blog or website so that,  when the visitor rolls the mouse over any link, a big bubble with a thumbnail image in it will pop up , giving them a preview of the website mentioned there.
It is a cool service if used in limit. If it goes overboard, then it can be very frustrating for the visitors because it disrupts the whole browsing experience of the visitors and has the potential to be quite a pain to the visitors.
Therefore I started searching for a method through which these snap previews can be disabled. Interestingly Snap.com itself had the answer for this problem.
SOLUTION
Just click here or click on the link provided in the FAQ.
If you are wondering how does it work? Well, when you click on the script, your browser gets injected with a cookie that will send all those bubbles packing.
Note: Since this script depends on cookies, this method will be effective till the cookies stay. So if you delete all your cookies, then the Snap Previews will reappear.




Get Domains Names absolutely free

Categories:

If you have always dreamt of getting your own domain name without paying anything, then here is your golden chance
You can register free domains from here.
This domain supports URL forwarding, Email forwarding and also traffic management in the free version. However if you are ready to shell out $6.95 per year, then you get your own DNS and the legal ownership of the domain.
But beware any domain having less than 25 visitors in 90 days will be deleted.
Check out www.vikasonline.tk. In the same way you can redirect your newly created domain to your blog or any other URL of your choice.
So hurry up and register the domain name that you have always dreamt of, absolutely free before anyone else does it. Thanks Nischal.




Youtube also Bans BSNL IP's, Workarounds given

Categories: ,

Youtube

BSNL Customers are having a tough time these days, with many of the prominent sites banning them from accessing their websites. The latest to join this bandwagon is 'Youtube'.
The Youtube site (http://in.youtube.com) has reportedly banned all BSNL Broadband users having IP Range of 59.x.x.x almost around 3 days ago. Although the new users of BSNL Broadband i.e. users with 117.x.x.x range have escaped this ban and can easily access the site directly. The reason for this sudden ban is still unknown.
A Workaround
So those who fall in the above mentioned range, can either access it through http://uk.youtube.com or you can access the website using proxies like Guardster or kproxy etc.

Update : After the ban of 4 days, Youtube is finally back :)




The 7 Best Firefox extensions selected by Mozilla

Categories:

This list of extensions was chosen by a group of six judges commissioned by Mozilla as part of a contest it has called Extend Firefox 3, out of the pool of 100+ entries for 3 different categories namely, Best New Add-on, Best Updated Add-on and the Best Music Add-on. and the winners were:

Best New Add-On

1. Pencil = For GUI prototyping and diagramming that everyone can use. Pencil makes uses of the SVG support in Firefox 3 to implement all the shape rendering and scripting.


2. Tagmarks = For One click bookmark tagging.



3. HandyTag = For Automatic bookmark tagging



Best Updated Add-On

4. Read it Later = To save pages of interest for later reading.



5. TagSifter = To Browse your bookmarks by their tags.



6. Bookmark Previews = It adds an album view and thumbnail view to the bookmarks manager.



Best Music Add-On

7. Fire.fm = It gives a direct access to the extensive music library on Last.fm

(via Mashable)



Flickr finally releases Embeddable Slideshows

Categories:

Until now there was never a easy way to embed a nice slide show of your flickr photos and we had to depend on 3rd Party services to embed a slideshow on your own web page. Yesterday Flickr finally added this functionality as well i.e. to embed a slideshow on any website or to share with other users.

Just click on "Share This" link, present at the right top corner when you are viewing any slideshow and you will be presented with two options, an URL that links to the slideshow you're viewing, and also a HTML code that will let you embed the slideshow on your website. For example below embedded is a slideshow that contains search results for the word "iphone 3G India"



(via Read Write Web)



iPhone Launched in India, A Student from Mumbai its first customer

Categories: ,

iphone
Finally the much hyped iPhone has been launched in India. A college student called Swati from Mumbai has become the first customer of the iPhone. She apparently bought it from Sahara Mall in Mumbai.



For More iPhone Buzz, keep watching this space.
Source


Update 1: iPhone Loans

Apparently Both Vodafone and Airtel have tied up with banks such as ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Barclays Bank etc to provide loans to potential customers who are planning to buy the iPhone but can’t afford it immediately.

“As per the arrangement, customers who hold a credit card of any of these banks can avail iPhone without any down payment and at a rate which will be significantly below the interest rates charged for credit cards or personal loans,” said a top official of a leading telecom service provider.

The amount has to be paid back in 6 to 12 months equated monthly installments (EMIs).

Source

Update 2: Bharti Airtel has said that Apple iPhone will first be launched across six cities in the country. On the other hand, Vodafone, the other player in the fray, also has launched the gadget at the same time.

The phone was sold at Hyderabad and Bangalore besides the four metropolitan cities today. It will be later introduced in 65 cities.

According to Airtel, it has received 2,00,000 pre-bookings for the phone since the process had started about two months back.

Airtel Head is however unperturbed about the availability of number of softwares in the market for hacking the iPhone. He is optimistic that the customers who will opt for Airtel will be able to enjoy iPhone's full benefits including its attractive data plans.

Update 3: Apparently a business man has bought six iPhones for his family. Man O Man.



Awesome Blogging Cartoons

Categories:

Some of the Awesome Blogging Jokes @ Catch The Posts

Samples are as follows:







Do check the rest @ Catch The Posts



Google Trends Now Shows Traffic Stats as well

Categories: , ,


2 Years ago, when Google Trends was introduced, it was proposed to be a tool that tracks the most searched for keywords. It became so popular that they added a new tool a year ago called "Hot Trends" which shows the top searched keys on google right now. Now they have introduced a new tool for websites that gives you a view of how popular that particular website is. It also gives a comparison and ranks the site visits across the world, and also its related websites and searches. There is also many options if you want to zero in on any particular region or any particular time period.

This tool allows you to find out the number of unique visitors that visits the website over a period of time. But this tool supports only domains with some decent traffic. Therefore all blogspot blogs and the free wordpress blogs are ruled out and no data is provided for these blogs. Therefore I checked the tool with some popular news websites. It is amazing. Check the results of yourself.



Source: Google Webmaster Central Blog



Vodafone announces its prices for iPhone 3G

Categories: , ,


Vodafone has finally announced its prices for iPhone 3G. It is 31,000 for 8GB model and 36,100 for 16GB model. Therefore even a minute chance of buying it for me goes off!!!

What do you say? Do you still wanna buy iPhone 3G?

So you still interested ha!!! Then hurry to Vodafone Stores coz they have very limited stock it seems and also be ready to cough up 10,000 rupees as an advance to confirm your booking. The iPhone 3G will be available at select Vodafone Stores.

All you need to do is drop in at any of the select Vodafone Stores between August 20 and 21 and make the advance payment by cash or credit card. Don´t forget to show the iPhone booking SMS, which you would have received from us, when you visit the Vodafone Store to pay the advance. To find a Vodafone Store near you, click here.

Once you pay the advance, they will immediately give you an appointment date and time, starting August 22 when you can come and experience a full demonstration and collect your iPhone, all ready to use with your contacts and settings, by paying the balance amount.

And for Non Vodafone people i.e. people who do not have a vodafone connection, you will have to buy a vodafone connection.

Happy buying :)




Yahoo! Buzz opens up

Categories: ,

Yahoo! Buzz has now been opened to all website owners and publishers. Yahoo! Buzz has been in news recently for sending the highest traffic ever, and it is your best bet to get featured on the Yahoo! homepage.

The beta test which was conducted recently was limited to only few popular websites (who could survive extraordinary spikes of traffic. Lots of webmasters and bloggers kept joining the waiting list (including me) who used to get mails, reminding list members that "We will let you know as soon as Yahoo! Buzz is ready for you to join. We can't wait to bring you on board!".

You can now add Buzz buttons to your posts on the site which will allow the readers to vote the stories in different categories available. Voters however, should have a Yahoo! ID to submit and buzz the story. You can also keep track of all your buzzing activity i.e. total number of “First Buzzers”, “Buzz Ups”, “Buzz Downs” and a list of the most recent stories you have buzzed. And if you are really lucky, some story might make it to the Yahoo! homepage which will definitely drive hordes of traffic to your site.

So Start Buzzing now!!!
(via Quick Online Tips)




Website Blocked? Access it by an email

Categories: ,

Many times certain websites are blocked in offices or in schools. Though there are several workarounds available on the net through which you can access those blocked pages, but administrators are getting smarter day by day, and also with such tricks being available openly on the Internet, you can be sure that you are not the only one reading it, your system administrator may have also read about it and blocked those proxy servers or workarounds.

There is now a cool new workaround using which you can easily access a blocked webpage and it is called "WebToMail". This is a new service that will allow you to view blocked websites by sending a simple email and receiving the blocked website via email.

You will have to send an email to send@webtomail.co.cc with URL of the desired website in the subject line. After sending the email, you will get the desired website by email within a few minutes. (In my case it was approximately a minute or so).

Awesome. Ain't it? Thanks Keith.




Taare Zameen Par Background Music - A Review

Categories:

A Review of the background music of "Taare Zameen Par" which was released with the DVD of Taare Zameen Par.




Google Pages to shut down, Go for Google Sites now

Categories: ,

Google has now stopped accepting new registrations for Google Pages. Existing users though need not worry, they can still continue using this product.

All your files, images and web pages stored in Google Pages however will get shifted to Google Sites later this year. This may cause a problem for people who are using its links in their websites as it will lead to broken links since Google Sites have a different URL structure as compared to Google Pages.

However a big difference between Google Pages and Google Sites is that Google Pages lets you upload externally created HTML pages which is missing in Google Sites. Thanks Amit.




TRAI allows Internet telephony, STD rates to drop

Categories:

In a significient step today, telecom regulator TRAI allowed ISPs to offer unrestricted Internet telephony services, a move that will further increase the competition in the domestic long distance segment and will result in lower STD tariffs.

"It is envisaged that customers will ultimately benefit from cost effective and innovative Internet telephony service. These recommendations will put Indian telecom sector in tune with global trends. The grey market tendencies shall be curtailed," TRAI said in a statement.

This move will now permit calls from personal computers to fixed line and mobile phones. Presently, a voice call can only travel between two computers and not from a mobile or a fixed phone. This is expected to open up huge channels of revenues for Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

TRAI also added that all ISPs interested to provide unrestricted Internet telephony should install "Lawful Interception" equipments, to make Internet telephony secure.

All I can say is Awesome!!! :)

Source: IBNLive.com




µTorrent 1.8 released

Categories:

After 6 long months, µTorrent 1.8 was released on Aug 9. The last stable version i.e. µTorrent 1.7.7 was released way back on Jan 25.
A lot of improvement has been made in this release. Some major ones and some minor ones. Major updates include Teredo Tunneling, IPv6 support, the changes in the GUI (in fact it has been enhanced), Full vista support etc. To check the details of the changes, check the release notes here.

To download the latest version click here.

Update 1: I also noticed a increase in the download speed also but don't know if it because of the program or internet provider. If you guys also found out the difference in speed, do tell me.



Write scraps on orkut via SMS now

Categories: ,

Orkut has finally added one of the most awaited feature i.e. Notification via SMS. Orkut users in India can now interact with their other Orkut friends using any mobile phone that can send or receive SMS text messages i.e. the phone need not be GPRS enabled.

With orkut's new SMS feature, you can scrap your friends, look up their contact information and receive scrap notifications. To start using this feature, you will have to register your mobile number with Orkut. But this feature come with a price and you will be charged by your service provider to send and receive SMS messages. Check the pricing details here.

How to get the notifications.


Just go to Settings in your orkut profile and then go to the Mobile Tab. You will then see a page wherein you can enter your mobile number to receive notifications. Check the SMS commands for orkutting here.

This feature is available only in India and Brazil. Moreover, Only few operators in India like Aircel, BPL, MTNL, Reliance, Spice and Tata Indicom support this feature.




Get News Updates from CNN IBN on Google Talk

Categories: , ,

1. Add im@ibnalerts.com to your friends list in Gtalk.


2. Now Click on 'im' and enter 'help' in the text box to view the list of keywords

3. Type the required keyword. then you see all the top news from the section requested. For example if you want entertainment news, type 'help' and then 'ent'. All the top stories will then be displayed.

4. You can also subscribe to IBNLive alerts by sending 'subscribe' and then sending the required keyword i.e. if you want to subscribe to entertainment alerts first type 'subscribe' and then 's ent'


Not sure about whether it works on Google Talk Gadget. If you have already tried this do comment and let me know.



Watch Beijing Olympics on Youtube

Categories: ,

Google Inc.'s YouTube, the most popular video-sharing Web site, will show daily coverage of the Olympic Games in India and 76 other countries where the broadcasters (i.e. NBC) haven't bought exclusive rights to the programming.

However Google will block the content outside the 77 territories where the rights have been sold to other broadcast networks. They will blocked from seeing the clips through a technology called "geo-blocking". The package from Beijing will include highlights, news and daily clips of the competitions and will be directed primarily to Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The Olympic video segments will begin on Aug. 6 and will air throughout the games' 17-day run. To facilitate this, a new channel has been opened on Youtube called Beijing2008.

To Check the complete schedule of Olympics, you can go here




"Real" Sense of Identity

Categories:

Found this nice cartoon on Life's a comic strip


Very Apt for today's generation, What Say?



Logitech's new Tricolour Mouse

Categories: ,

Logitech has unveiled a new tricolour mouse to commemorate the Indian Independence Day. The new mouse sports the colours of the Indian flag on its surface and .

It is a simple plug and play device and consists an all-terrain optical sensor as well. The mouse also has the Logitech's Integrated cord wrap feature that enables the user to wind the cord neatly into the mouse for easy packing.

It is priced at Rs. 640 and carries a replacement warranty of 3 years. It will soon be available at all leading electronic stores shortly.
Photo courtesy: Tech2.com




Trailer of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince out

Categories:

Hi fellows,
The trailer of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer is out and is looking very promising . Me being a major Harry Potter fan, I was very much excited by this news. So I am posting the trailer here. Post your comments about the trailor about how did you feel the trailer is.





Dhoni Wins the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award

Categories:


Indian Cricket skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the country's highest award conferred to a sports person. He was conferred this award for leading the Indian team to the 20/20 victory in South Africa during September last year. This has made Dhoni the second cricketer to be conferred this award after the 'Little Master' Sachin Tendulkar. However, an Official Announcement is still pending and will be mostly on August 20.

BCCI Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty hailed the decision. "We are happy Dhoni got it. On two occasions, we felt let down when Rahul Dravid didn't get Khel Ratna and Yuvraj was denied the Arjuna Award. Dravid was in a good form, we had won 16 ODIs on the trot and the team was on a high but still he did not get the award."

Shetty added "What I like most about Mahi, apart from his cricket, is the way he leads and conducts himself. He is a cool customer and never gets agitated. I'm also impressed by his clarity of thought. He speaks his mind even if it may not be seen in the right sense,"

Kudos to Dhoni on this superlative achievement!!!




VOI Winner Ishmeet Singh No More

Categories:


Ishmeet Singh, the winner of the first edition of Star Plus's popular reality show Voice of India, died in Maldives on Tuesday evening. He drowned in the swimming pool of his hotel Chaaya Island Dhonveli in North Male.

The 19-year-old singer from Punjab had arrived at Male on the morning of June 29, to perform at a promotional event to be held on August 1. Ishmeet was the winner of Star Plus's singing reality show "Voice Of India" in 2007 defeating another prodigy Harshit Saxena.

He was also recently seen as one of contestants of 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar', a singing reality show on Star Plus and represented the Champions team. He was eliminated on June 20, 2008 from the contest.

Ishmeet's death has plunged the music world into mourning. Lata Mangeshkar who gave him the trophy last year said, "I feel very sad. He'd come to meet me, sang for me, and I had nudged him to pay a little more attention to classical training. He'd told me, 'Mein ek din aapko bahot bada ban ke dikhaoonga' (one day I'll make a big name for myself)"

Farah Khan, one of the judge of Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar said "He was a gentleman, never saying anything bad about any contestant. Once I was having a late dinner in the studio and he sat beside me, sharing my food. He told me, 'You have so many fans. I'd never thought I would one day eat sitting side by side with you.' I still can't believe he's dead."

Playback singers Abhijeet and Alka Yagnik, who were judges on music reality show "Voice Of India", have expressed shock at Ishmeet's death. "It's shocking. It's a cruel thing that has happened to him. I still can't believe it," said Yagnik.

Harshit Saxena, The runner-up of Amul Star Voice of India, said, "He was like a brother to me. I cannot even comment on what has happened. I cannot believe that he is no longer with us."

Gurprinder Singh Sodhi, father of Ishmeet said the event management company had informed the family that the body was expected to be brought to India today. The cremation would be performed in Ludhiana.

My heartiest condolences to him :(
May your soul rest in peace.




Rapidshare Bans all BSNL IP's

Categories:

Effective from a few hours before, Rapidshare has banned all the IP's of BSNL, India. When a user tries to load the rapidshare page, an error is being displayed saying "Massive RapidShare hack attempts detected. IP block 59.90.0.0 - 59.99.255.255 blocked. Please call your internet provider."

There is no idea as to when Rapidshare will unban the IP's. Will update you on the situation ASAP. Keep watching this space.

Update 1: Rapidshare has banned all MTNL IP's also.

Update 2: Rapidshare is back!!!




iTunes 7.7 is out, iPhone App store launched

Categories: ,

iTunes 7.7 is now available over Apple Software Update. If you have not installed iTunes then download it from here

An extract from its release notes is as stated below
"Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home - a free download from the App Store." Awesome ain't it!!!

Once iTunes is installed, go to Preferences in the Edit menu, click the General tab, then check the box next to Applications. Now click OK.

An Applications item will appear in the left-hand pane of the iTunes window. Click it. Initially, the main pane may appear blank (this is the screen that will show any applications you've downloaded). If so, click the Get More Applications item in the lower right-hand corner to see the full App Store. According to Apple, about 25 percent of the 500 applications available at launch are free.

When you click on an app's icon, you get details about it - its cost, the size of the file, whether it works on both the iPhone or iPod Touch. Some apps may only work on the iPhone 3G, such as those that require true GPS. At the moment, you can download all the apps you like, but until the 2.0 software is available for the older iPhones and the iPod Touch, it won't do you much good. Some of the sample applications are as shown below,



The screenshot of the remote control application is as shown below

iPhone 2.0 software can be downloaded from this page. But be cautious. To install the software after it has downloaded, remove the .zip file extension and hit the option key while asking iTunes to look for iPhone updates. And the software will erase all data on your phone. Apple says they will create a one-time media backup of the data.




Mukhbiir Moneyback offer

Categories:

Recently I came through a news article about "Mukhbiir", a movie to be released on Aug 1. Supposedly its producers are coming up with a unique marketing concept to attract the crowd. It said that if you do not like the movie, then they will refund your money back. Though this offer is valid only for the first 5000 tickets in the first week of the film's release, but still I must admire the confidence, the producer must be having on the film to come up with such an unique scheme.

Explaining the motivation behind introducing this never-before customer-satisfaction scheme, the Mukhbiir producer Sudhish Rambhotla says, "When we've money-back guarantee for consumers in other business why not in the entertainment industry? This money-refund satisfaction-guarantee has never been done in the entertainment industry in any part of the world. Movie making is like any mass manufacturing business. So why can't we assure quality to the consumer?"

He further adds "So far, whoever has seen Mukhbiir has been riveted. So I'm confident no one will want back their money. However, if they do, they're most welcome to get back the money."

Good going Mr.Producer :)
Hoping that more producers follow you into this scheme :)




Calculating a Website's Load Time

Categories:

Do you always wanted to know how time it takes for your website/blog to load? Well, Here is a solution to the problem.

In Pingdom, you can check your site load time in one click.

Pingdom is actually a popular performance monitoring service for checking the uptime of websites and servers. It also provides a free load time test for web pages. The full page test loads a complete HTML page including all objects present int the websites (i.e.images, CSS, JavaScripts, RSS, Flash, Widgets and frames/iframes) and displays the load time of all the objects visually with time bars serially. You can also see various other data like the total number of objects present in the website, total load time of the site, and size of the pages including all objects.

How to Check:

Simply enter your url below and check the detailed graph on how each element present in the site, loads on your webpage, from connection to the complete load and it will help you identify any issues which are slowing down your website like scripts or widgets, so that you can fix them.


A bookmarklet called 'Analyze load time' is also available. Simply drag it to your bookmarks toolbar and click to use it on any webpage to test its loading time in one click.

So how fast does your website/blog loads?

P.S. I tested this on my blog and was amazed by the results. It took around 7 seconds to load the whole webpage.



Sony Ericsson Releases 3 new walkman phones

Categories: , , ,

Sony Ericsson has released 3 brand new walkman phone to coincide with the 3rd birthday of Walkman Phones. They are W902, W595 and W302.


W902 PhoneThis phone is a higher end phone. This phone features 8GB Memory Stick Micro which allows storing of over 8000 songs at anytime. It also sports a great video quality. The phone also consists of a 5 MP Camera with 16x digital zoom. It has a bright and clear 2.2" display and available in 3 colours namely Volcanic Black, Wine Red and Earth Green. To check more details about the phone, click here.

W595 Phone
This is a mid range phone consisting of a 2GB memory stick which can store 1900 songs in eAAC+ encoded format. It also has a 3.2MP camera. The W595 Walkman is a UMTS/HSDPA 2100 and EDGE/GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets Q4 of 2008. It will be available in 4 colours namely Active Blue, Cosmopolitan White, Jungle Grey and Ruby Black. To check more details about the phone, click here.

W302 PhoneThis phone is an affordable no-compromise slim handset but still packed with impressive features which includes a 512MB memory stick micro, a 2MP camera, FM Radio and TrackID functions. The W302 Walkman is an EDGE/GSM/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in selected markets in Q4 of 2008. It will be available in 2 colours namely Midnight Black and Sparkling White. To check more details about the phone, click here.

Sony Ericsson also unveiled three new sets of speakers, the MBS-200, MBS-400 and MPS-100, and three stereo headphones, HBH-IS800, HPM-88 and HPM-66 for for music lovers.

Source: Sony Ericsson Website




Firefox 3.0.1 Released

Categories: , ,

Last month, a very critical hole was discovered in the Firefox source code which affected both Firefox 3 and Firefox 2.x.x and the point of concern for all the users was that it could allow a hacker to execute commands remotely on a machine. Therefore to fix this, Mozilla has released a minor update to Firefox 3 i.e. Firefox 3.0.1. Firefox 3.0.1 fixes three critical security vulnerabilities, improves stability and resolves a handful of other small bugs. The Security improvements in Firefox 3 means that it's no longer vulnerable to some of the Firefox 2 variants of the command-line multiple tab exploit but it can still be compromised by combining the attack with a script injection flaw. The non-security fixes include an issue where the phishing and malware database did not update on first launch and a problem that could cause Firefox to not save the security certificate exceptions list properly. To know more on the details of the updates/fixes it has provided, you can check the Firefox 3.0.1 Release Notes and the new version can be downloaded from the Mozilla website. Persons already using Firefox 3 can get it via Automatic updates tab built into the browser (Go to Help -> Check for updates in the topmost bar, that should do the job).




Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na Movie Review

Jaane Tu… was probably one of the most awaited movie on my list, Firstly because it was an Aamir Khan Production, Secondly the music was awesome which was rendered by the maestro AR Rehman himself and Thirdly, (though it is more of a personal reason) that Genelia was starring in it.

So I had gone to see the movie with a lot of expectations and expectedly I was not let down. The movie is simply mindblowing. Though it is a usual love story but it is the presentation that takes you aback. The movie appears so closer to life that sometimes you feel it is a story of your own college days. The movie will take you through the various faces of human relationship i.e. make you laugh, make you a little sad etc. Finally when the movie ends, you are thoroughly entertained. Imran and Genelia are simply mindblowing in their acting. There is not even a single dull moment in the whole movie. Not to forget all the other people in the gang who pitch in with a remarkable performance taking the movie to a whole new level. A special mention must be made of Prateik Babbar who plays the brooding brother of Genelia in the movie.

The movie especially the song "Nazrein Milaana" brought back some memories from my own college days. We too had a group and we used to generally hang out every other day then. And yeah, we’ve taken a ride in the bullock cart too and not to forget we too had a couple in our gang alike Imran and Manjari Phadnis who behaved exactly like them :)

What the movie is about :
Well the movie revolves around a group of college buddies i.e. Jai Singh Rathore (Imran Khan), Aditi (Genelia), Jignesh Patel (Nirav Mehta), Sandhya (Aliskha Varde), Shaleen (Sughanda) and Rotlu (Karan) who are there for each other and enjoying every moment of LIFE as the gang of friends. Tired of everyone misunderstanding their strictly platonic friendship for love, Jai and Aditi decide they must find each other suitable romantic partners who aren't threatened by the closeness the two of them share. Little do they realise that what they feel for each other is indeed love, a reality that dawns upon them in the later part of the movie when they are with different partners and then the film culminates with the Imran proposing to Genelia in a typically filmi style at an airport.

Music :
What to say about the music other than saying that it is done by the Genius AR Rehman itself. All the songs are extremely catchy and will be on the lips of the people for a long time. A special mention must be made of the songs "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi" , "Pappu Can't Dance" and "Nazrein Milaana" song which are simply out of this world.

Acting :
Ratna Pathak Shah is excellent as Jai's Mother. Prateik Babbar is good as the brooding brother of Genelia. Manjari Phadnis also make a mark as Jai's love interest. But the USP of the movie has to be Imran Khan and Genelia's Chemistry and their spontaneous acting. I must say that Imran Khan is the best actor that has come out among the batch of the new actors. Other people in the gang also come up with a remarkable performance.

Abbas Tyrewala definitely needs a pat on the back for giving us a such a delightful movie.So people please make time and watch this movie coz this is a definite "must not miss" movie.

Ratings :
My ratings for this movie is 4/5. Please if you have time, watch this movie and if you do not have time, make some time and watch this movie.




Love Story 2050 Review

Categories:


Finally I caught up with this movie few days ago but now repenting about why did I watch this movie. This is one of the worst movies I have seen in recent times. This movie can be surely made as a case study for testing your patience and I am sure everybody will flunk in that test. After all, it's that rare breed of film that gets almost nothing right — starting from a script that's so predictable, direction that is surprisingly absent, and acting that is so amateurish that you would want tell them to take a course in acting before they try their next film.

For anyone still interested, here goes the review.
The movie kicks off in present day Adeleide where Karan (Harman Baweja) falls head over heels in love with Sanaa (Priyanka Chopra) on seeing her chasing butterflies in a park. The movie then proceeds in the expected manner i.e. guy wooing the girl, doing stupid stunts to make her happy etc. Harman Baweja hams through out the film and tries to ape hrithik in almost every still of the movie, the most used dialogue being "I don't need luck, I have love". After a lot of unbearable childish wooing and many songs later she returns the sentiment, then a trip to his uncle, Uncle Ya's house is also made who is researching on inventing a time machine and like in a normal bollywood movie she dies, gets killed by a speeding truck when she is crossing the road.

Then again a whining session of Harman Baweja starts. In the next scene we realise that Miss Sana had 'rightly' corrected genius Uncle Ya's equation (Alpha to infinity) , thus enabling the proper functioning of his 'Time Machine'. So unable to bear up with his whinings, they take off for a trip to future. For some strange reason they're convinced Sanaa is alive and is in Mumbai 2050. This is where the intermission break was given and I'm sure I heard every person in the multiplex was overjoyed to hear the Intermission bell.

Next, we are transported to the world of flying cars, virtual maids and robot sidekicks, Sana is Zeisha now and a famous international popstar. Karan tracks her down and stalks her everywhere like an obsessed teenager right from her mid air concert to her talk show on TV and also her ridiculously strange Xbox gaming Session and suddenly the modern day sci-fi theme takes an ancient Bollywood turn with the reincarnation theme where he tries to rekindle memories of her past life with just one song and succedes in bringing her to the present day.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, there is also a archetypal villain (who chooses to keep his face covered with a mask for reasons very well known) who is after the scientist's time machine and won't give up until the protagonists are chased through out the specially created futuristic city.

Performances: Harman Baweja is on of the biggest blows of the movie who is so busy to look, dance and act like Hrithik Roshan that we forget that it is not a Hrithik's duplicate who is acting but Harman Baweja. Priyanka Chopra tries to give justice to her performance but fails to evoke any emotion of sympathy or affection. Quality actors like Boman Irani etc are simply wasted by the director in the movie. Though the special effects manage to salvage some pride but still is not enough to save the movie from being a disaster.

Therefore my Ratings for the movie would be 1/5 which is solely for the special effects in the movie.

P.S. Interestingly if you observe the background score in the later parts of the movie, it is highly inspired from Avast! antivirus virus detection tone :)




A Waterproof Phone from Fujitsu

Categories: , ,


Fujitsu's new F706i waterproof phone is exactly what one needs if you are a water baby and also a mobile freak.
The F706i is a slim clam shell flip phone that weighs in at 137g. It's equipped with a large 2.7-inch display that swivels to landscape style viewing. It features a 1Seg TV tuner. It also has a 2 megapixel camera and support for microSD cards for memory expansion. The handset is also capable of HSDPA connectivity speeds with a full web browser. It also comes with a multimedia player that’s said to read quite a few of the more popular AV formats. But the USP of the phone is that it’s usable up to 6 meters underwater. Hmm... Very Interesting, isn't it?

The little wonder is available in four colors, and features a new LED panel on its front end that provides important information regarding the phones operation (time, lock...) and displays a nice pattern (design figures with 50 different colors), the 2in1 phone option (you can have two telephone numbers on one device), 3G WorldRing (can be used overseas), the DCMXiD (electronic wallet), PC web browser (a real internet browser).

There’s no word on the availability and pricing of the F706i yet so stay tuned Smile 3.

Source: Tech2.com



Geographic location of programming languages

Categories:


Here's a nice blogpost that I found...
It has a map consisting of places where different computer languages were developed. Check it out.
UNDER THE SUN: Geographic location of programming languages



Teach India

Categories:

Teach India is a new social initiative from the Times of India group that brings together children in need of education and people who can contribute a little time towards teaching them. So if you have the desire to teach, they will put you in touch with underprivileged children who are willing to learn. Teach India already has the support of sixty of India's committed NGOs, corporates, schools and social organizations and they are now looking for selfless individuals to come forward and help change the future of a child forever, by giving just a few hours a week to Teach India.
How To Participate: The Times of India has established partnerships with several NGOs in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. Anyone interested in participating can click here to visit the Teach India website and register themselves. Alternatively you can also fill out the Volunteer Registration form and submit it to The Times of India office in your city. To receive the form on email, SMS TEACH to 58888.
Time Period: Teach India is looking for volunteers who can participate in the program for 3 months. If you wish to continue teaching, the same may be made possible by the NGO you are working with through mutual discussion.
Type Of Education: A variety of programmes, including basic education, support classes and even story-telling are available. These are all very easy to teach programmes in which simple topics have to be taught to children mostly at primary school level.The teaching would be one-on-one or to small groups of children. The type of programme a volunteer is assigned to, will be decided after assessment by the NGO, keeping your location and time preference in mind.
For More Details, visit the Teach India Website
Img Courtesy: The Times of India



Firefox 3 in Record Books

Categories: , ,

Its official now!!!Firefox 3 has managed to set a Guinness World Record for the "Most Software Downloads in 24 hours". The final figure is 8,002,530 downloads.Congrats Mozilla on this feat.
Source: Spread Firefox.com




Funny Weather Forecast

Categories:



An Interesting weather forecast done by a person. Check it out





Interesting Comic Strip

Categories:



Yesterday was just going through my mail when I found this comic strip
I found this strip really hilarious, so I am sharing the strip with all of you guys and gals


ROFL 5ROFL 5ROFL 5ROFL 5ROFL 5ROFL 5